** LIBYA. V. of Africa monitoring Friday Feb 25, for the scheduled 1400-1600 English on 17725, 21695:
1405 tune-in, no signal on 21695, and Spain is JBA on 21610, 21570, but I still think Libya is not on the air. 17725 at 1406 but not in English, think it`s Swahili, talking about Africa, Fatah.
1408, 17725 goes to open carrier, 1410 English ID beginning late, drumming, usual pompous announcer, says something about ``ending the conflict``, mentions 9-9-99, a significant date? Yes: see below. Rough copy with deep fades. 1412 YL ID and drumming. 1414, frequency announcement claiming this is ``17850``. 1424, 17725 is even weaker during music. Still nothing on 21695. Break for breakfast.
1457, 17725 is too weak to copy, and no 21695, tho Kuwait in Arabic is OK on 21540, Spain on 21570, 21610.
1520, I check 13m once again and guess what, 21660 is now on with the easily-recognizable VOA OM English announcer, instead of 21695. It cuts off the air for a split second now and then, but copy is better now than 17725. 1524 I start rolling tape --- you never know, when this could be the final broadcast, forever.
(Elsewhere on real news sources, fighting is reported west of Tripoli, which we know is not far from the Sabrata SW transmitter site on the coast about halfway between Tripoli and Tunisia.)
1524 another boring canned talk on the African Union, 1528 music; 1535 I resume listening after a phonecall, now it`s the YL speaking and copy is tough again, fading down. 1537 canned frequency announcement again, one of which is the imaginary 17850.
1543, repeat the canned frequency announcement, yes, now with BOTH of them wrong. Could it be sabotage, at the studio and/or transmitter site, to minimize listenership?? Still saying ``21695 and 17850``.
1545, ``special program on the unity of Africa, thanks to the great revolution of Al-Fatah``, history starting in 1969y; now fading in much better. 1546 mentions Nasser, Nkrumah, Mobutu, and repeatedly, ``the leader of the revolution of Al-Fatah``, presumably referring to Q`Daffy, but I never hear him mentioned by name in these talx. Is that usual? A ``declaration`` of some significance was made on 9-9-99 --- I assume in the Western calendar, tho Libya has a different one where that date would have no such numerological significance, or did they just change the names of the months and keep the numbers the same? 1555, outro program claiming ``the unity of Africa has been achieved``. Several more momentary transmitter breaks in a row during music.
1556 ID, music; 1559, closing English ``until tomorrow, Voice of Africa from the Great ---`` and modulation cut before ``Jamahiriyah``, more sabotage? Probably just usual incompetence. After a few sex of dead air, opening French, but it`s muffled and distorted, plus the music with it.
After confirming that 17725 is still running //, I quit and start compiling today`s lengthy log report which will take a few more hours, starting with this which I am releasing in advance. Refer later to the final version in case I make any changes or additions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
1405 tune-in, no signal on 21695, and Spain is JBA on 21610, 21570, but I still think Libya is not on the air. 17725 at 1406 but not in English, think it`s Swahili, talking about Africa, Fatah.
1408, 17725 goes to open carrier, 1410 English ID beginning late, drumming, usual pompous announcer, says something about ``ending the conflict``, mentions 9-9-99, a significant date? Yes: see below. Rough copy with deep fades. 1412 YL ID and drumming. 1414, frequency announcement claiming this is ``17850``. 1424, 17725 is even weaker during music. Still nothing on 21695. Break for breakfast.
1457, 17725 is too weak to copy, and no 21695, tho Kuwait in Arabic is OK on 21540, Spain on 21570, 21610.
1520, I check 13m once again and guess what, 21660 is now on with the easily-recognizable VOA OM English announcer, instead of 21695. It cuts off the air for a split second now and then, but copy is better now than 17725. 1524 I start rolling tape --- you never know, when this could be the final broadcast, forever.
(Elsewhere on real news sources, fighting is reported west of Tripoli, which we know is not far from the Sabrata SW transmitter site on the coast about halfway between Tripoli and Tunisia.)
1524 another boring canned talk on the African Union, 1528 music; 1535 I resume listening after a phonecall, now it`s the YL speaking and copy is tough again, fading down. 1537 canned frequency announcement again, one of which is the imaginary 17850.
1543, repeat the canned frequency announcement, yes, now with BOTH of them wrong. Could it be sabotage, at the studio and/or transmitter site, to minimize listenership?? Still saying ``21695 and 17850``.
1545, ``special program on the unity of Africa, thanks to the great revolution of Al-Fatah``, history starting in 1969y; now fading in much better. 1546 mentions Nasser, Nkrumah, Mobutu, and repeatedly, ``the leader of the revolution of Al-Fatah``, presumably referring to Q`Daffy, but I never hear him mentioned by name in these talx. Is that usual? A ``declaration`` of some significance was made on 9-9-99 --- I assume in the Western calendar, tho Libya has a different one where that date would have no such numerological significance, or did they just change the names of the months and keep the numbers the same? 1555, outro program claiming ``the unity of Africa has been achieved``. Several more momentary transmitter breaks in a row during music.
1556 ID, music; 1559, closing English ``until tomorrow, Voice of Africa from the Great ---`` and modulation cut before ``Jamahiriyah``, more sabotage? Probably just usual incompetence. After a few sex of dead air, opening French, but it`s muffled and distorted, plus the music with it.
After confirming that 17725 is still running //, I quit and start compiling today`s lengthy log report which will take a few more hours, starting with this which I am releasing in advance. Refer later to the final version in case I make any changes or additions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
